Charles Barkley Really, Really Wants LeBron James On TNT’s Playoff Broadcast

LeBron James isn’t in the postseason for the first time in years, and many in the NBA are struggling to get used to it. The Eastern Conference is wide open without James on the Cavaliers, and the Western Conference didn’t see LeBron lift the Lakers into postseason contention after a groin injury cut his season short.

Without a postseason opponent to worry about, James has one of the longest offseasons of his career ahead of him. And he doesn’t seem to necessarily hate the time off.

But Charles Barkley wants to put the best basketball player on the planet to work this spring, and he’s already asked James to join the TNT broadcast once. On Sunday night, after the second day of NBA postseason action, Barkley gave it one last go to get LeBron to commit to an appearance on the network’s broadcasts.

“This is for America, this is for the last time: LeBron — come into the studio,” Barkley said. “You ain’t got nothing to do. Playoffs started and you got plenty of time.”

Barkley was hamming it up a bit here, of course, so he couldn’t help but get a dig in at James and the current state of the Lakers.

I know you have to pick a coach and a general manager,” Barkley said. “Just put that on the back burner.”

Barkley said James could go right in the middle of the set, and Kenny and Ernie even scooted over a bit to make some room for the Los Angeles Laker. He even said that the James could even leave at halftime of the second broadcast of the night, that way he doesn’t have to hang around too late into the evening. Seems like a pretty good offer, really!

It seems unlikely that James will take them up on the offer, but it’s not a bad idea. James is a student of the game and his insight would be invaluable. But you have to admit, it doesn’t seem like James is exactly bored just yet.